The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of geranium, botanically known as Pelargonium zonale, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name ‘Fisnifire’.
‘Fisnifire’ is a product of a planned breeding program which had the objective of creating new zonal geranium cultivars with single-type flowers, zoned foliage, in various colors, and generally suitable for a range of robust outdoor varieties.
‘Fisnifire’ originated from a hybridization made by the inventor, Angelika Utecht, in a controlled breeding program in Hillscheid, Germany, in 1998. The female parent was the patented variety ‘Fishelen’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 12,727), characterized by semi-double, salmon-pink colored flowers, medium green foliage with strong zonation, and medium sized plant habit. The male parent of ‘Fisnifire’ was the unpatented plant No. 93-0266-7, characterized by having red, single-type flowers, dark green foliage and fairly vigorous growth habit.
‘Fisnifire’ was selected as one flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross by Angelika Utecht in 1999 in a controlled environment in Moncarapacho, Portugal.
The first act of asexual reproduction of ‘Fisnifire’ was accomplished when vegetative cuttings were taken from the initial selection in the fall of 1999 in a controlled environment in Moncarapacho, Portugal, by, or under the supervision of, Angelika Utecht.
Horticultural examination of plants grown from cuttings of the plant initiated in May of 2000, in Hillscheid, Germany, and continuing thereafter, has demonstrated that the combination of characteristics as herein disclosed for ‘Fisnifire’ are firmly fixed and are retained through successive generations of asexual reproduction.